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BIRDS OF AFRICA 
fermentation of these substances producing a sufficient heat to develop 
the egg ; the duration oi this incubation is about six weeks." 
IN AFRICA. 
Naturally enough, these wingless birds carry our thoughts to the 
best known and most celebrated of the family, the ostrich, and at the 
same time convey us in imagination across the broad waters of tbe 
Southei-n Ocean to the African continent. 
THE OSTRICH. 
The ostrich! He is one of the friends of 
our childhood. We learn in our earliest years 
to admire the great wingless bird which can- 
not fl}'', yet with his speed of foot outstrips the 
swiftest horse ; which enjoys such wonderful 
digestive powers ; the plumes of which are 
thought worthy to adorn the bi'ow of Beauty 
and to nod in the crown of a king! No doubt 
we gather up a good deal of the marvellous 
with our zoological facts, and see the bird 
throuo-h the maoic glasses of a romantic im- 
agination ; yet true it is that of all foreign 
birds he is the one with which the young 
STOW most fomiliar. Who does not remember 
the graceful fancy embodied in Southey's lines? 
THE OSTRICU 
